Busman's holiday

The above might look like a prize winning selection from the conveyor belt of The Generation Game, they are in fact birthday presents given to yours truly to celebrate the fact that I do have a birthday contrary to the rumour that Walt Disney drew me.
A day of hedonism followed the full cooked English(after the critters had been fed) and we went to the small breeds and owl farm park sanctuary where we saw 36 different species of owl, several different breeds of goat (all bonkers) miniature horses, cows, donkeys and fowl. Much like our place really but without the pooh to tread in. Unfortunately there are no pictures of our encounters with the vast array of badly behaved animals as yours truly failed to find the memory card to the mega camera and then replaced the dead battery in the compact with an even deader one.
Back at the ranch I finally got to wield a spanner on the contents of the big box and after several attempts built something that resembled a bike. Keen to try it out I ignored the fact that the brakes either worked and the wheels failed to rotate or after a slight adjustment allowed the wheels to rotate no matter how hard you applied the brakes and hopped on (read gingerly moved off and wobbled several hundred yards) and am happy to report that I can still ride a bike (in a straight line anyway) despite not having done so since the great sudden impact of September 2007 which did an amazing job of rearranging my anatomy, especially my left arm. Which is now 33% mechanno.
Arm held up to rigours of hanging on to the bars and confidence soared when I got back to the cottage in one piece and dismounted without injury. My beautiful and oh so patient wife then asked for a demo, something along the lines of "Go on then show me what you can do" which did give a flashback moment to spring 2007 when at the top of a black run I asked my cycling companion if he had ever done a route like this, on hearing the negative I advised it was easy enough, sit well back, keep the weight off the front and favour the back brake, seconds later I was cartwheeling down the rocky slope still attached to my bike as my quick release pedals refused to eject me and several full rotations later, when the dust settled, I was found trying to be brave and with more than bruises to my ego.
Evening was spent eating, another of my hobbies, a lovely meal cooked by Beth, planning the garden and sorting out recruits for pig club. A surprise visit from Mr and Mrs Stable Sprite meant we got to play with the Kobe the calf as they had not seen him.
End of play and the realisation that we had not fetched our friends Berners meant a quick trip out and now there are 9 Berners lounging around enjoying the facilities.